A Star By Any Other Name
by Leni
Summary: One more summer day, one more project for the brothers. (Ensemble piece)


**THANK YOU:** to Vampmama for the beta.

_Written for **gloriafan** at **fandom_stocking**._

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**A STAR BY ANY OTHER NAME...  
**

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Phineas stared up at their latest project.

It raised fifty stories into the sky, gleaming white with bright orange and brown spots (the Fireside Girls had been in charge of the decorations) and a magnified copy of the Mercator Telescope on top. His and Ferb's idea had included a much humbler version, with measurements taken straight from the original, but when Buford had complained that only one person would be able to look at the sky at a time, Baljeet's eyes had widened in excitement and half an hour later he'd presented his own version.

Phineas had to admit that the magnified version, twenty times the size of the original, was much more imposing.

"We were lucky to get the appropriate mirrors," Ferb noted without taking his eyes off his notebook. He had incorporated Baljeet's design with seeming ease, but Phineas knew that his brother wouldn't be at peace until he was confident that every detail was to his taste. "Our usual supplier refused to process our order."

"I like the new company better," Phineas said, remembering the professionalism of their delivery service. It had been a welcome change; too often the personnel seemed to care more about the client's age than the adequate handling of their products. Of course, with mirrors as huge as twelve feet in diameter, the delivery crew had needed to keep their focus on not breaking them. "Do you think it's big enough, brother?"

Ferb tilted his head; even without looking Phineas could guess the calculations speeding behind his brother's eyes. After another few seconds, Ferb's shoulders shrugged. "It'll do."

Phineas grinned. "Super!" Aware that the fun was about to start, people wandered in through the gate. "Thank you for your patience, ladies and gentlemen," Phineas started, waving friends and neighbors closer, trying to make himself heard over the rising murmur as people speculated about the kind of adventure they'd embark on. After another failed attempt at a welcome speech, Isabella met his eye, took a deep breath and, putting two fingers between her lips, gave a sharp whistle.

In the ensuing silence, Phineas sent her a quick grateful nod, to which Isabella responded with a thumbs-up.

"As I was saying," he addressed the group, "despite the initial delays, we were able to gather all the necessary materials for today's entertainment." In the first row, Baljeet sighed in relief; he'd been twisting his hands anxiously despite Buford's best efforts to distract him. Phineas grinned and made an encompassing gesture towards the building. "I declare the Phineas & Ferb StarGazer officially open for business. Please don't –"

The rest of his words were cut off by the avalanche of children rushing inches away from him on their way to the entrance. Only Isabella slowed down, but after checking that he was unharmed, she gave him a wide smile and hurried over to catch up with her troop.

"Everybody wants to name a star after themselves," Phineas mused. Earlier that morning he and Ferb had agreed that most of the current nomenclature was hopelessly boring – why did grown-ups think that nonsensical rows of letters and numbers were interesting? "I think I'll take something small this time – maybe a comet?"

He brought a pair of binoculars up to his eyes to see whether the first elevator had already arrived at the last floor. It had. The noise didn't make it down to where he stood, but from the glimpses of excited faces making their way into the telescope, Phineas guessed that the StarGazer would be another success, complete with people from all over the Tri-State area making a line around the corner until late into the afternoon. In fact, he could already see some of them gathering at the gate. "I'm glad other people appreciate our work," he told Ferb, "but have you noticed we've lowered our publicity budget and still get more people every time?"

Ferb considered that. "We'll need a bigger yard before school starts."

Phineas nodded. That seemed a reasonable solution. "We'll borrow Dad's house plans again," he agreed. "We can work on an expansion tomorrow."

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed his older sister hiding between the bushes. She was wearing camouflage clothes – again. Phineas felt an odd stab of envy; he bet that no delivery guy asked Candace whether she was too young for complete sets of safari hunting accessories. If she were willing to become involved in their projects, she'd be in charge of signing the orders; but Candace seldom showed any interest. Well, that wasn't completely true. At odd times, she tried to get their mother to witness one of their accomplishments.

Sadly, Candace's efforts had yet to be successful. It was a pity, but Phineas was glad that his sister kept trying. Everyone needed a pet project for the summer, after all. He just wished that the constant setbacks weren't stressing Candace out; he could swear that he'd seen her dressed as a huge hotdog the other day. That didn't sound healthy, did it?

Hopefully his sister would choose to join them today. If she did, he and Ferb might even pull some strings and get a whole star system named after her. Candace would love that.

Phineas waved at Stacy, who stood by the bushes unwilling to ruin her pretty dress with dirt, and pointed at the StarGazer in clear invitation. Stacy looked down at her best friend, her mouth pursed, and heaved a long sigh. Turning back toward Phineas, the brunette lifted her shoulders into a helpless gesture and waved back goodbye.

"They'll come later," Ferb said, advancing towards their new building. They would handle the next group of customers after they'd tried the attraction themselves. "They're probably waiting for Candace's boyfriend to join them."

"Yeah."

There was a strangled squeak from between the bushes, but Phineas had already joined his brother. He recognized Candace's voice, but attributed the noise to his sister stepping on some napping animal that had been hidden in the undergrowth – probably Perry. It was a long-held conclusion that the family pet platypus used the darkest corners of the yard for his continued disappearance acts.

Ferb stopped at the door and looked up to the morning sky. Cocking his head, he raised his hand to shade his eyes. One eyebrow arched contemplatively. "Since the host stars of every planet system are commonly referred to as 'suns', it would appear that our sun has no name of its own."

Phineas grinned; his brother really had all the cool ideas. He glanced up, too. "It does look like a Flynn-Fletcher, doesn't it?"

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**THE END**


End file.
